WebOS ( Web Operating System )

Web Operating System is an internet service through which a user can access his computer data remotely anywhere on any computer and in any part of earth were internet is available.

Fig. 1: A Representational Image of Web Operating System

It has been termed as “Web Operating System” because they are present on the web and not on the computer of the user, all the data is being stored on the servers of the Web OS provider. Recently there was big roar on internet about the word “iCloud”. It was an introduction of one more operating system in the category of web operating systems. Web Operating systems (webOS) was introduced as a thought that one might be able to play with application, store data, and share it on the internet from anywhere in the world. So does a web OS do. Today web OS are capable of storing large amount of user data as large as 50 GB providing a very simplified and user friendly interface. One can share files, listen to music, read news and can do many other stuff depending upon the diversity and richness of the web OS used by the user. In one line, “We have internet on computer. So, web OS is computer on the internet”.

Myths about WebOS

As the entropy of earth is increasing day by day, so is with the confusion in technology. Here are some of the many confusions or misunderstanding in the word “web OS”. One of the basic myths is- “Are OS and Web OS are same thing?” The answer is “NO”, not at all. Operating systems were built to communicate between the application and the hardware stuff of the computer. It deals with the internal operations running inside the computer. It includes scheduling of tasks, multi-tasking, utilization of resources etc. But on the other hand, WebOS are the operating systems that are composed of rich user interface which tries to mimic appearance of an operating system. Another myth related to web OS is its confusion with another word “webOS”. The webOS is actually an operating system developed under Linux for palm mobile devices.

How Do Web OS Works?

Before going to servers and cloud computing details let us first start locally. Consider the case of computers we have. The computer consists of many applications to work with such as one can use calculator to calculate, calendar to be scheduled, clock, games, and many other applications. Apart from these apps we also have diverse data like movies, memories, music, and files etc which we store in computer hard disk. We communicate with the computer through the user interface which is right now before your eyes (if you are viewing this page on a computer). If we want to share any data, internet is engaged. Sharing can be done through many websites available on the web. So this is how a local computer with a normal user works. Now consider yourself as a computer user right now working at office. Suddenly your boss calls you to show some random file to him (sometimes they like people feeling inconvenient). But you forgot to bring it. The file is in the hard disk of your home PC and it could not be teleport from there to your office computer in air. This is the situation when most brain thinks if there could be any method by which they could access their local content anywhere. This problem was resolved by the programmers by introducing the concept of “Web OS”.

Fig. 2: A Diagram Illustrating the Concept of WebOS

WebOS are the dynamic computers. The applications, hard disk, operating systems are all present at the servers from where they are operated. The web OS service provider has different spaces for application access and database. The user is provided with a graphical user interface which feels like the one at your PC. This operating system consists of application section like calendar, clock, calculator, document editors etc then there is a section for data storage where user can store data, and there are many other sections depending upon the web OS. Whatever content user wants to store is stored at the hard disk at servers. As the terminology itself says, the web OS make use of the web to connect and upload files to the client server.

As the files are now been stored at the server, user can now utilize them remotely anywhere on the earth. It just needs internet and a computer and everything is done. User has to switch on computer, start the internet and go to respective web OS website or download the web OS application (in case it is not on the remote computer), and browse the data. Simple!

How to Start with Web OS

How to Start with Web OS?

Getting started with the web OS is very simple. It is as user friendly as to sign up with any social networking website. Take a look-

Step 1 – Sign up: Go to the website of web OS provider and create an account by signing up. This creates space for the user on the server. There exist two cases, sometimes user need to download an application of web OS before signing up and in other case, user can directly sign up on the website of provider.

Step 2 –Get started: Next is the last step, user can now play with the applications offered by the provider, save data on it and can do lots of other things depending upon what web OS user’s using.

Step 3 –Have your data remotely anywhere: To recollect data from web OS, user has to download the same web OS application on the computer they are using (in case) or they can just log in to the website of provider and have their data anytime anywhere on earth.

Developing a Web OS

Developing a Web OS:

The major concern for a web OS either online or application based, it should have a light weighted user interface in the sense it should take less space, load quickly and provide a user friendly interface. These concerns have been resolved by applications like Flash and XML scripts.

Fig. 3: A Flow Chart Showing Different Web OS Development Language

Flash is a very popular web development tool. The fact that it is so popular is because it offers user to make interactive applications using JavaScript and it also let user to make animations. Flash utilizes vector graphics to construct any application or animation. Vector graphics in take any picture or image in the form of shapes rather than the pixel by pixel due to which they require very less space on the system as well as on the internet. The effective use of flash can be seen on any video streaming websites where browser uses flash player to play the video. Because of these interactive capabilities of flash, it is being utilized in making interface for the web OS.

Another approach for the making of web OS is through XML coding or in more technical terms it is termed as AJAX which stands for “Asynchronous JavaScript and XML” this is a very effective alternate for the Flash. Actually, the AJAX is a pack of different languages used for web development like HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), JavaScript coding, CSS (cascading style sheets) and eXtensible Markup language.

HTML is not a coding language, it is a Markup language where different tags are utilized for different needs. The browser than read these tags and gives out the appropriate result. Once the interface is developed using HTML it should be good looking too, hence to bring upon tweaks in the HTML coded web OS, CSS is used which stands for “cascading style sheets” it boost up the appearance of the web page. Now as our very user friendly interface has been molded, it needs to get communicate with the servers. To fulfill this vacancy JavaScript is used which is a language used for communicating with the servers. An application installed on the computer connects to the server using JavaScript. It also allows bouncing the particular information to the particular servers. Now as we have successfully established the communication between application and server there exist one more problem i.e. nobody knows that which file is related to which type of information i.e. application file should be related to the application server and data should relate itself with the data server, to solve this problem XML is used. This keeps the files and information related to it in its virtual box systematically. The best feature of AJAX is its asynchronous communication. By the virtue of this, information can be send and receive between computer and server in small packets whenever needed thus utilizing the resources.

This is how a web OS is developed. Another capability of Flash and AJAX is that they are cross platform languages and can be used on any operating system.

Features & Applications

Features & Applications:

Different services offered by web operating system are listed below:

· store music

· photos

· Applications

· Documents

· Bookmarks

· Reminders

· Notes

· EBooks

· Contacts

· Email client

· Calendar

· Calculator

Below is the list of feature packed and preferred web OS:

1. iCloud: Within a week of its launch, there were above 20 million users across the globe. The reason was the diverse services provided by them. Through iCloud, user can manage the content of their handheld devices like iPhone and iPad. User has the power to virtually access all their data from anywhere. Apart from this user can have 50 GB of storage space. A typical screen shot from iCloud interface is shown below:

Fig. 4: A Representational Image of iCloud Interface

2. Glide OS: Glide OS is a very famous operating system. It offers a windows computer like interface and accessibility to access it on computers as well as mobile phones. It gives user 10 GB of space to store data. A screen shot of glide OS is shown below:

Fig. 5: A Screenshot of Glide OS Operating System

3. GHOST: G.HO.ST stands for “Global Hosted Operating System”, is a very computer type web operating system. At a first look it completely resembles to a windows computer which makes it fit to user of all types i.e. from oldies to new bees. G.HO.ST offers free space of 15 GB for data storage and a very professional sharing mechanism. A typical screen shot of GHOST is shown below :

Fig. 6: A Representational Image of Global Hosted Operating System

Features & Applications Contd..

4. Eye OS: Eye OS is among the first web operating system and since after its inception it is becoming more and more powerful due to its worldwide development by community of developers. The latest version available is Eye OS 2.2.0. It’s one of the main features making it distinct from other web OS is that it could be either used by making an account on the server of the Eye OS or the user can download its application and use it on his own computer. If developing eye OS, they provide an eye OS toolkit comprising library assets and tools for development. It offers many type of applications including document editor, PDF reader etc. A screen shot of eye OS GUI is shown below:

Fig. 7: A Screenshot of Eye OS Operating System

5. JoliCloud: JoliCloud is a web OS having its diversion towards the social network. Apart from the applications it provides, it gives a rich interface to connect all social media at one place. It was basically developed with keeping touch pads and tablet PC in mind. A screen shot from JoliCloud application is shown below:

Fig. 8: A Representational Image of JoliCloud Operating System

Conclusion:

Earth is shrinking down with great pace if relating it with our communication power, and as we all know that shrinking is inversely proportional to the complexity, introduction of new virtual world ideas like web OS let us to deal with complexities easily and make us more social.